LAKE DWELLERS. 186 



he was taken in a trap, with the other trap fast on his 

 thigh. Another time a beaver, passing over a trap to get 

 the castoreum, had his hind leg broken ; with his teeth 

 he cut the broken leg off, and went away. We concluded 

 that he would not come again ; but two nights afterwards 

 he was found fast in a trap, in every case tempted by the 

 castoreum. The stick was always licked or sucked clean, 

 and it seemed to act as a soporific, as they always re- 

 mained more than a day without coming out of their 

 houses." 



And yet the beaver is an exceedingly wary animal, 

 possessing the keenest sense of smell. In setting the 

 large iron traps, without teeth, which are generally used 

 in Nova Scotia, and placed in the paths leading from the 

 house to the grove where he feeds, so careful must be the 

 hunter not to leave his scent on the spot, that he gene- 

 rally cuts down a tree and walks on its branches towards 

 the edge of the path, afterwards withdrawing it, and 

 plentifully sprinkling water around. 



The presence of the beaver in his snow-covered house 

 is readily detected by the hunter in winter by the appear- 

 ance (if the dw^elling is tenanted) of what is called the 

 " smoke hole," a funnel-shaped passage formed by the 

 warm vapour ascending from the animals beneath. 



"With regard to specific distinction of the beavers of 

 America, Europe, and Asia, the remarks of Professor 

 Baird, of the Smithsonian Institute, in his report of the 

 mammals of the Pacific railroad routes, summing up the 

 evidence of naturalists on the comparative anatomy of 

 the Castors of the Old and New Worlds, appear worthy of 

 note as establishing a satisfactory result. 



The question has been elaborately discussed, and the 



